Should have seen this one coming. The Simpsons warned us. In the episode when Mel Gibson wanted Homer's help to make his remake of Mr Smith Goes to Washington better, they both agreed the ending needed to be violent. Didn't work out, but Gibson's bloodlust was there. So, would it be a surprise when he got on the director's chair he would unleash a gorefest?
This movie, like many others is based on a book, or rather 4 books. 4 books that differ in major plot elements cobbled together to form a coherent story. The Gospels
Background
Of all the movies to start as a director, Mel chooses the crucifixion of Jesus. Released in 2004, this movie gained some controversy. First is the mentioned levels of violence leveled at one character. Another is the claim that the movie promotes anti-semitism, a factor parodied in South Park. Perhaps most unusual is that there are stories of parents actually taking kids to see this movie.
Plot
So the movie starts with the “son of God” praying fearfully in a moonlight garden, having a go at his posse for not keeping watch for the boogieman or something. So while the messiah is begging for the cup to be passed from him, he is taunted by the most androgynous Satan ever to appear on screen. So Jesus is arrested when a reluctant Judas leads the Sanhedrin to him. The other apostles attempt to resist and despite overpowering the armed soldiers, Jesus surrenders and is taken to the high priests with beatings on the way.
So as the somewhat worse for wear demigod is brought in questioning, the high priest asks Yeshua outright if he is the messiah. He blatantly claims to be, earning him a beating for blasphemy. I guess they were expecting that Emmanuel guy.
So after Judas tries to talk the Sanhedrin to talking the money back and releasing Jesus, we find the guilt ridden man tormented by demonic children whom later force him to hang himself.
So Jesus is brought to Pilate, the Imperial Governor of Judia for crucifixion, but Pilate does not see Jesus as his problem so sends him to Herod, King of Galilee, whom sends him back to Pilate.
Pilate tries to satisfy the crowd by having Yeshua severely whipped but not killed. So begins one of the bloodiest scenes in film. So this thing goes on for 10 minutes and you can a chunk of him torn right off, exposing some ribs. Watching this go on is that androgynous Satan now sporting a creepy kid of his/her own. At the end of it, Jesus is nothing but a bloody mess.
Despite this however, the priest and the crowd demand his execution to which Pilate responds with his literal washing his hands on the matter, telling them I ain’t responsible for this shit.
So now we come to the main event, the condemned is given his cross and led out of the city passing through jeering mobs and being beating mercilessly. A man is made to assist Jesus in carrying the cross, who later feels sorry for the condemned,
So have a long and brutal trek through Jerusalem we finally get to the nailing up. We are treated to flashbacks while not a lot happens until they get round to actually putting him on the cross. The camera likes to make sure the viewer see the nails go through, the agony and the sadistic faces of the Romans. One of his fellow condemn challenges his to free himself if he is who he claims to be. His challenge is met with a crow gouging his eyes out.
So after a long time, Jesus finally snuffs it and suddenly an earthquake devastates the temple, the one Jesus claimed he would destroy and rebuild in 3 days. There is panic among the Romans as some weird shit happens. Jesus is then lowered from the cross and entombed in respect of it being a Friday night (Sabbath) and not stuck in a ditch as would be the case. The final shot of the movie Jesus waking up, all but the holes in his hands regenerated and finally the end credits.
Intended Message
It seems clear to me that the main message here is the pain and agony Jesus had to go through to allow mankind to be forgiven of sin. It also seems to show how brutal those who do not believe in him are. While the Sanhedrin are indeed the most demanding of Jesus' blood, it is the romans who are more than willing to supply it.
Final Comments
Wow, just wow. This is a sadist's wet dream. The flogging scene and the crucifixion seemed to be needlessly drawn out. Kinda alternated between disgusting and boring. I guess they wanted to draw out the torture in an attempt to show what he went through "for us." Like there isn't enough needless guilt.
I must admit, I think it interesting given the level of blood in this movie they chose the hanging death for Judas as opposed to the gut spill in Acts. Either they wanted some sympathy for the Patron Saint of Thankless Tasks. (Idea from Peter Gilmore's Review: A Clockwork Messiah)
One question remains on my mind. The mosiac law teaches blasphemers are to be stoned to death, so why the need to have the romans use their method of execution?
I am also disturbed about the stories I hear of parents showing this movie to their kids. If I had kids I certainly wouldn't show them this. If I wanna tramatise them, I'll use a more entertaining movie like The Toxic Avenger or Robocop. At least you can enjoy most of the deaths as they're bad guys.
Saturday, 26 February 2011
Sunday, 20 February 2011
How To Use Dianetics
How do you keep money coming to your organisation when it is founded on the works of one guy who is now dead? You repackage it and sell a new version. As I open the DVD case I noticed a second disc, and two booklets.
Background
Some time ago I reviewed Dianetics: The Visual Guidebook to the Mind. That DVD was sold by Scientology churches to accompany Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (DMSMH). However, in 2007, That book, and many others in the group known to Scientologists as “The Basics” were edited and then reissued.
To go with the new version of “Book one”. Golden Era Productions, the media arm of the Church of Scientology produced a new DVD. Where as the previous had a single disc and a card insert with the Auditing ritual. The new DVD set includes a second DVD and two booklets. A “Film Guide” and a “Procedure Guide”
This DVD is paired with the 2007 edition of DMSMH, a version that is purported to be as the author L. Ron Hubbard intended. This has raised criticisms as DMSMH was published in 1950 and Hubbard didn’t die until 1986, allowing 36 years to correct it if he felt there was a problem.
Plot
The film is divided into 16 chapters. These chapters covers an aspect of Dianetics. If you read my review of the Visual Guidebook, then the plot is basically the same, but expanded in explaining the aspects. It starts with reminding the viewer about how people seek to live comfortable lives, yet often do ill rational things. This according to the film that painful experiences are recorded in the hypothetical “Reactive mind” as an “engram”. Engrams are said to cause pain or ill rational behaviour, often it can be chronic if anything was said during the incident. The video goes over the Auditing process that involves going over these painful incidents with another person.
The second disc goes into more detail about Scientological concepts as the tone scale. The different types of engram, including those given before birth. Painful emotion engrams.
Intended Message
This DVD set, like its predecessor is intended to get the viewer up to speed on the principles of Dianetics, how to audit and where to get more information. The info is a web address that directs the user to their nearest Scientology church. The film also directs the view to look up sections of the book.
Final Comments
Like the predecessor, this DVD doesn’t appear to make the more outlandish claims that Dianetics cures the common cold. It doesn’t mention as the book does that many pre-birth engrams are caused by abortion attempts.
While this DVD does go into more detail about the auditing process, but truth is, it’s still outdated even by Scientological standards. The next book, Science of Survival, makes some changes to the auditing process, and that book was published in 1952, this DVD in 2010. The text in the book suggests it may not be that big of a deal, but it’s still puzzling why they wouldn’t update.
Make no mistake, Dianetics is a pseudo-science. It makes these promises about increased health and better living, but it made these claims over half a century ago. If there were any noticeable improvement, it would have been picked up by now. It wouldn’t be this obscure thing most outside of Scientology would never have heard of.
Background
Some time ago I reviewed Dianetics: The Visual Guidebook to the Mind. That DVD was sold by Scientology churches to accompany Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (DMSMH). However, in 2007, That book, and many others in the group known to Scientologists as “The Basics” were edited and then reissued.
To go with the new version of “Book one”. Golden Era Productions, the media arm of the Church of Scientology produced a new DVD. Where as the previous had a single disc and a card insert with the Auditing ritual. The new DVD set includes a second DVD and two booklets. A “Film Guide” and a “Procedure Guide”
This DVD is paired with the 2007 edition of DMSMH, a version that is purported to be as the author L. Ron Hubbard intended. This has raised criticisms as DMSMH was published in 1950 and Hubbard didn’t die until 1986, allowing 36 years to correct it if he felt there was a problem.
Plot
The film is divided into 16 chapters. These chapters covers an aspect of Dianetics. If you read my review of the Visual Guidebook, then the plot is basically the same, but expanded in explaining the aspects. It starts with reminding the viewer about how people seek to live comfortable lives, yet often do ill rational things. This according to the film that painful experiences are recorded in the hypothetical “Reactive mind” as an “engram”. Engrams are said to cause pain or ill rational behaviour, often it can be chronic if anything was said during the incident. The video goes over the Auditing process that involves going over these painful incidents with another person.
The second disc goes into more detail about Scientological concepts as the tone scale. The different types of engram, including those given before birth. Painful emotion engrams.
Intended Message
This DVD set, like its predecessor is intended to get the viewer up to speed on the principles of Dianetics, how to audit and where to get more information. The info is a web address that directs the user to their nearest Scientology church. The film also directs the view to look up sections of the book.
Final Comments
Like the predecessor, this DVD doesn’t appear to make the more outlandish claims that Dianetics cures the common cold. It doesn’t mention as the book does that many pre-birth engrams are caused by abortion attempts.
While this DVD does go into more detail about the auditing process, but truth is, it’s still outdated even by Scientological standards. The next book, Science of Survival, makes some changes to the auditing process, and that book was published in 1952, this DVD in 2010. The text in the book suggests it may not be that big of a deal, but it’s still puzzling why they wouldn’t update.
Make no mistake, Dianetics is a pseudo-science. It makes these promises about increased health and better living, but it made these claims over half a century ago. If there were any noticeable improvement, it would have been picked up by now. It wouldn’t be this obscure thing most outside of Scientology would never have heard of.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death
What is it with religion and science? Sure you've heard of the rivalries Christianity has adopted against Evolutionary Biology, Age of the Earth, Age of the Universe, Abiogenesis and the Big Bang Theory. But to a lesser extent is the rivalry between the fields of Psychiatry and Psychology and a lesser known faith known as Scientology.
Background
In 1950, pulp fiction writer Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (Known more commonly as L. Ron Hubbard or simply Ron to followers and critics alike) authored a book, "Dianetics: The Modern Science of the Human Mind". This book was released as an alternative to psychiatry and gained a large following. However the claims made in the book have often been criticized by members of the psychology and psychiatry fields. Dianetics later evolved into the religion known as Scientology. As Dianetics is a competitor for Psychiatry, the Church of Scientology have made claims that psychiatry is at best a pseudo-science and at worst, a money making scam that isn't afraid to trample on people. A claim that the Church has been accused of since its creation. To help sell Dianetics as this miracle cure, despite its proven failure time and time again, the church founded an organization to demonize the field of Psychiatry. This organization, composed mostly of scientologists, is named the "Citizens Commission for Human Rights" or simply CCHR. CCHR's goal is to prove Psychiatry is an "evil" science so people will seek an alternative. Dianetics. To this end, they released a film and hold an exhibit with the same name.
Plot
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death is a pseudo-documentary comprising of a mix of interviews, stock footage, photos and narration. The movie is split into multiple chapters. The first is an introduction how Psychiatry seeks to infiltrate every aspect of human life. The next provides a apparent history of the field, emphasizing the very crude methods that proved ineffective. Next we are told the psychiatrists believe men are simply soulless animals and behavior is based on stimulus response. Next the film claims that psychiatry, and not evolutionary biology is the basis for Eugenics, which they also regard as a pseudo-science. The claim that psychiatry is responsible for the holocaust, and not racial prejudice, is also made. The film then goes on to make outlandish claims that the field is responsible for racism, slavery.
The film goes on to talk about the treatments used by psychiatrists such as lobotomies and other neurosurgery and how they change people's personalities. They also connect psychiatrists to drug companies and makes the claim that they make up illnesses such as ADD and such just to sell pills for profit. Then we get into the conspiracy stuff about how psychiatrists are intent to prove every man, woman and child is mentally ill so they can drug them, institutionalize them and abuse them in anyway they see fit. The movie ends with a promotion for CCHR, a brief history of the group and a web url to their site.
Intended Message
Unlike works of fiction. Psychiatry: An Industry of Death makes no attempt to hide its message. Psychiatry is a false teaching and psychiatrists are evil. Only CCHR can be trusted.
Final Comments.
I'm no psychiatrist, but I know when groups talk about "Just a theory" that they often have a bias against the science. "Theory" in a scientific sense is basically an explanation for all the gathered facts. I also couldn't help but pick up their rejection of the notion that there is no such thing as a soul. Scientists tend to ignore the concept of the soul as there is no evidence for its existence. Clearly this movie has a spiritual background. Also they cite the barbarity of the early treatments in the fledgling science as why it is faulty. One must remember though there was a time when the use of leaches was considered medicine, yet medical science was not abandoned. I have friends who have been helped by this field. They do not deny its helpfulness. Problem is though, scientologists are told to embrace the word of Ron. They have pursued his hypocritical self deceit as opposed to undefiled wisdom. This has resulted in fatalities. If you need help, seek a professional, not an empty promise.
Background
In 1950, pulp fiction writer Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (Known more commonly as L. Ron Hubbard or simply Ron to followers and critics alike) authored a book, "Dianetics: The Modern Science of the Human Mind". This book was released as an alternative to psychiatry and gained a large following. However the claims made in the book have often been criticized by members of the psychology and psychiatry fields. Dianetics later evolved into the religion known as Scientology. As Dianetics is a competitor for Psychiatry, the Church of Scientology have made claims that psychiatry is at best a pseudo-science and at worst, a money making scam that isn't afraid to trample on people. A claim that the Church has been accused of since its creation. To help sell Dianetics as this miracle cure, despite its proven failure time and time again, the church founded an organization to demonize the field of Psychiatry. This organization, composed mostly of scientologists, is named the "Citizens Commission for Human Rights" or simply CCHR. CCHR's goal is to prove Psychiatry is an "evil" science so people will seek an alternative. Dianetics. To this end, they released a film and hold an exhibit with the same name.
Plot
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death is a pseudo-documentary comprising of a mix of interviews, stock footage, photos and narration. The movie is split into multiple chapters. The first is an introduction how Psychiatry seeks to infiltrate every aspect of human life. The next provides a apparent history of the field, emphasizing the very crude methods that proved ineffective. Next we are told the psychiatrists believe men are simply soulless animals and behavior is based on stimulus response. Next the film claims that psychiatry, and not evolutionary biology is the basis for Eugenics, which they also regard as a pseudo-science. The claim that psychiatry is responsible for the holocaust, and not racial prejudice, is also made. The film then goes on to make outlandish claims that the field is responsible for racism, slavery.
The film goes on to talk about the treatments used by psychiatrists such as lobotomies and other neurosurgery and how they change people's personalities. They also connect psychiatrists to drug companies and makes the claim that they make up illnesses such as ADD and such just to sell pills for profit. Then we get into the conspiracy stuff about how psychiatrists are intent to prove every man, woman and child is mentally ill so they can drug them, institutionalize them and abuse them in anyway they see fit. The movie ends with a promotion for CCHR, a brief history of the group and a web url to their site.
Intended Message
Unlike works of fiction. Psychiatry: An Industry of Death makes no attempt to hide its message. Psychiatry is a false teaching and psychiatrists are evil. Only CCHR can be trusted.
Final Comments.
I'm no psychiatrist, but I know when groups talk about "Just a theory" that they often have a bias against the science. "Theory" in a scientific sense is basically an explanation for all the gathered facts. I also couldn't help but pick up their rejection of the notion that there is no such thing as a soul. Scientists tend to ignore the concept of the soul as there is no evidence for its existence. Clearly this movie has a spiritual background. Also they cite the barbarity of the early treatments in the fledgling science as why it is faulty. One must remember though there was a time when the use of leaches was considered medicine, yet medical science was not abandoned. I have friends who have been helped by this field. They do not deny its helpfulness. Problem is though, scientologists are told to embrace the word of Ron. They have pursued his hypocritical self deceit as opposed to undefiled wisdom. This has resulted in fatalities. If you need help, seek a professional, not an empty promise.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Dianetics: A Visual Guidebook to the Mind
Background
Scientology, an interesting cult. Formed in the 1950s by pulp fiction writer Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (known more commonly as "L. Ron Hubbard" or simply "Ron" to Scientologists) this group evolved into a religion from the so called "Modern Science of the Human Mind" Dianetics, also conceived by Ron. Dianetics was introduced to the world as a revolutionary alternative to psychology and psychiatry which promised to cure a wide variety of mental and physical problems such as making bad decisions and even the common cold. These claims are often debunked but not before it gained a following. In time, Dianetics was used as the basis for a new faith. It was named Scientology. The Church of Scientology uses Dianetics as a means to attract new members with the promise of optimal mental and physical performance. Often potential "Preclears" are shown a film which has been distributed on DVD either on its own or in a boxset with the Dianetics book. The Visual Guidebook of the Mind
Plot
There is no plot per say, but it is split into multiple parts. The first gives an overview of Dianetics, how the human mind works in Ronland. Basically, the human mind has 2 major components. The "Analytical" mind and the "Reactive" mind. The Analytical mind being the problem solver, it looks at past experience and the current situation and makes the optimum decision. The Reactive Mind stores incidents of pain and suffering and tries to force the person out of a similar situation. The film goes on to say that the reactive mind stores words and phrases uttered during these incidents and causes effects similar to hypnosis. For example saying "He can't breath" may cause asthma. It may also cause irrational behavior.
The next part of the film covers how to deal with these recorded painful incidents, named "engrams" in Dianetics. The film covers a basic "Auditing" session. The scientological therapy used to take the data from the reactive mind, and put it into the analytical mind. This is done by asking the "preclear", the person undergoing therapy to think about an incident and talk in as much detail as possible. Often asking to go over it again and try to pick up more details until the preclear is cheerful about it. The film asks the viewer to review this card which my DVD included which details a step by step on auditing.
The final section of the movie basically promotes dianetics, claiming it could create a saner world, one without war, crime or other negative effects of society. It also takes the time to promote the book it is based on, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. It also promotes a hotline, where you can go for professional auditing or learn how to be a pro.
Intended Message
Dianetics: Visual Guidebook to the Mind isn't a work of fiction so it does not hide its message. The movie is an attempt to introduce the pseudo-science to potential preclears and potential scientologists. While some of the more outlandish promises from the book are omitted in the film (Clears not having colds for example)
Final Comments
Dianetics, since the 1950s it has been, and has remained for 60 years a patent cure in paper form. Putting it on DVD does not change that. Dianetics, like creationism is simply a religious alternative to a real science. Problem is though, Dianetics touts itself as a alternative medicine. One that is intended to replace Psychiatry. This can be irresponsible and at times outright dangerous. What the DVD fails to mention is Dianetics Auditing is not free, nor is training. It can cost a hefty amont for prossessing, training, purchasing of books, audio cds and other materials. I'm also not sure at what point of auditing one is considered a scientologist, but I definatly beleive you are a full blown scientologist when you reach Clear and go on to the OT levels.
Scientology, an interesting cult. Formed in the 1950s by pulp fiction writer Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (known more commonly as "L. Ron Hubbard" or simply "Ron" to Scientologists) this group evolved into a religion from the so called "Modern Science of the Human Mind" Dianetics, also conceived by Ron. Dianetics was introduced to the world as a revolutionary alternative to psychology and psychiatry which promised to cure a wide variety of mental and physical problems such as making bad decisions and even the common cold. These claims are often debunked but not before it gained a following. In time, Dianetics was used as the basis for a new faith. It was named Scientology. The Church of Scientology uses Dianetics as a means to attract new members with the promise of optimal mental and physical performance. Often potential "Preclears" are shown a film which has been distributed on DVD either on its own or in a boxset with the Dianetics book. The Visual Guidebook of the Mind
Plot
There is no plot per say, but it is split into multiple parts. The first gives an overview of Dianetics, how the human mind works in Ronland. Basically, the human mind has 2 major components. The "Analytical" mind and the "Reactive" mind. The Analytical mind being the problem solver, it looks at past experience and the current situation and makes the optimum decision. The Reactive Mind stores incidents of pain and suffering and tries to force the person out of a similar situation. The film goes on to say that the reactive mind stores words and phrases uttered during these incidents and causes effects similar to hypnosis. For example saying "He can't breath" may cause asthma. It may also cause irrational behavior.
The next part of the film covers how to deal with these recorded painful incidents, named "engrams" in Dianetics. The film covers a basic "Auditing" session. The scientological therapy used to take the data from the reactive mind, and put it into the analytical mind. This is done by asking the "preclear", the person undergoing therapy to think about an incident and talk in as much detail as possible. Often asking to go over it again and try to pick up more details until the preclear is cheerful about it. The film asks the viewer to review this card which my DVD included which details a step by step on auditing.
The final section of the movie basically promotes dianetics, claiming it could create a saner world, one without war, crime or other negative effects of society. It also takes the time to promote the book it is based on, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. It also promotes a hotline, where you can go for professional auditing or learn how to be a pro.
Intended Message
Dianetics: Visual Guidebook to the Mind isn't a work of fiction so it does not hide its message. The movie is an attempt to introduce the pseudo-science to potential preclears and potential scientologists. While some of the more outlandish promises from the book are omitted in the film (Clears not having colds for example)
Final Comments
Dianetics, since the 1950s it has been, and has remained for 60 years a patent cure in paper form. Putting it on DVD does not change that. Dianetics, like creationism is simply a religious alternative to a real science. Problem is though, Dianetics touts itself as a alternative medicine. One that is intended to replace Psychiatry. This can be irresponsible and at times outright dangerous. What the DVD fails to mention is Dianetics Auditing is not free, nor is training. It can cost a hefty amont for prossessing, training, purchasing of books, audio cds and other materials. I'm also not sure at what point of auditing one is considered a scientologist, but I definatly beleive you are a full blown scientologist when you reach Clear and go on to the OT levels.
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